Spot where Jeff Buckley drowned

On the evening of May 29, 1997, Jeff Buckley waded into the Wolf River Harbor near Mud Island in Memphis, fully clothed and singing Led Zeppelin's "Whole Lotta Love." A friend waited on the bank with a boombox. Buckley had done this before — he loved swimming in the river — but this time the wake from a passing tugboat pulled him under. His body was found six days later. He was 30 years old.

Buckley had moved to Memphis earlier that year to record his second album with his band at Easley-McCain Recording Studios. He'd chosen Memphis deliberately, wanting distance from the New York music industry pressure that had surrounded his debut, the now-legendary "Grace." The sessions were loose and exploratory — Buckley was searching for a rawer, less produced sound. Dozens of demos and partial recordings survived, eventually released as "Sketches for My Sweetheart the Drunk" and later compilations.

The spot is reachable but not easy to find. The most likely access point is via the Tennessee Welcome Center — park there and head through the bush down under the bridge to reach the harbour shoreline. There's no formal memorial or signage marking the location, just the slow-moving water and the industrial quiet of the harbour. Fans sometimes leave flowers or guitar picks at the water's edge, though the exact spot is hard to pin down.

While you're at the Welcome Center, it's worth checking out the B.B. King mural and the Elvis statue — both are right there on site, making it a worthwhile stop even before you venture down to the water.

Jeff Buckley released only one completed album in his lifetime, but "Grace" — and particularly his devastating cover of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" — has grown into one of the most influential records of the 1990s. His voice, a four-octave instrument that could shift from a whisper to a wail, influenced a generation of singers from Radiohead's Thom Yorke to Adele.

The circumstances of his death — accidental drowning, not suicide, as the coroner confirmed — added an unbearable poignancy to an artist whose work was already drenched in emotional intensity. Memphis, the city that gave the world Elvis, Otis Redding, and Al Green, became for a brief few months Jeff Buckley's home — and then his resting place.